Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, separated after she learned he had fathered a child more than a decade ago — before his first run for office — with a longtime member of their household staff.

Shriver moved out of the family's Brentwood mansion earlier this year, after Schwarzenegger acknowledged the paternity. The staff member worked for the family for 20 years, retiring in January.

"After leaving the governor's office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago," Schwarzenegger said Monday night in a statement issued to The Times in response to questions. "I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry.

"I ask that the media respect my wife and children through this extremely difficult time," the statement concluded. "While I deserve your attention and criticism, my family does not. "

A spokesman for the former first lady said she had no comment.

Since leaving office, Schwarzenegger has maintained a high public profile, meeting with world dignitaries, attending a White House summit on immigration and working to revive his movie career.

To protect their privacy, The Times is not publishing the former staffer's name nor that of her child. In an interview Monday before Schwarzenegger issued his statement, the former staffer said another man — her then-husband — was the child's father.

She said she voluntarily left her position with the couple earlier this year after reaching a longstanding goal of working for them for two decades. "I wanted to achieve my 20 years, then I asked to retire," she said, adding she received a severance payment and "left on good terms with them."

Later Monday, The Times informed the woman of the governor's statement and she declined to comment further.

Schwarzenegger took financial responsibility for the child from the start and continued to provide support, according to a source who declined to be identified because of the former governor's request for privacy.

The former first couple of California announced their separation in a joint statement issued last week. The two have been married 25 years. There was no mention of a cause for the separation.

In keeping with their very public — and political — lives, two distinctly different portraits of the marriage and its status have emerged in the days since the breakup became public.

Schwarzenegger, 63, suggested that the split was temporary and the couple were working toward reconciliation. "We both love each other very much," the former governor said at an appearance last week at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. "We are very fortunate that we have four extraordinary children and we're taking one day at a time."

Friends of Shriver, 55, offered a grimmer assessment, saying she had been unhappy for years but made no move until after her parents died and Schwarzenegger finished his term as governor. Her father, Sargent Shriver, died Jan. 18, nearly a year and a half after the death of her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

The marriage between Shriver and Schwarzenegger — pairing one of Hollywood's top box office draws and a member of one of America's most storied Democratic political clans — has long been a subject of public interest.

Schwarzenegger at first denied the allegations, then apologized. Shriver offered a timely and politically crucial defense of her husband, vouching for his personal integrity.